Caught Up in a Moment
by ausllydawmoon
Summary: One moment. That's all it takes. Suddenly, her life is completely changed, and she can't get him out of her head. Good thing he's affected the same way. Auslly. One-Shot.
"Aren't there _any_ two seats next to each other?" Ally whispers to her best friend as they search the busy theater. She _knew_ they should've come earlier; this movie just came out and it's supposed to be a huge hit. But no, Trish was lazy and wasn't ready to leave until ten minutes before the movie started, and now they can't find any seats next to each other.

"Boom, right there," Trish whispers back, pointing to a pair of seats on the end of a row in the upper level of the theater.

Ally notices that the rest of the row is filled with boys that look to be around her age, and she recognizes a few from her school's football team. They're all seniors.

"Trish!" she hisses. "We can't just go sit by a bunch of senior boys!"

"Why not?"

"Because we're juniors!"

"They're just people."

"But they're _senior_ people."

"Oh, grow a pair," Trish says, rolling her eyes. She begins climbing the stairs to the seats, and Ally reluctantly follows.

"I don't want the end seat," Ally says when they're almost there.

"So now you _want_ to sit by the seniors?"

"Better than strangers' arms and hands and butts brushing past me as they go up and down the stairs."

Trish rolls her eyes again and allows Ally to step into the row first. She settles into her seat next to a blond boy that she doesn't recognize, placing her drink in the cup holder on her left and holds her bag of perfectly buttered and salted popcorn in her lap, focusing her eyes on the previews for upcoming movies playing on the screen.

When the movie starts, Trish immediately starts talking. It annoys Ally to no end, but she's used to it. Trish just feels the need to comment on every little thing in every movie she sees: what guys are hot, what girls are annoying, which character will secretly be the bad guy, who she thinks each character will end up with, who she predicts will die…the list goes on. But Ally just tunes her out and focuses on the movie.

They're about an hour into the movie when Ally can't take it. Trish has been whining for twenty minutes about being hungry but not being in the mood for popcorn, and all Ally wants to do is enjoy the movie.

"Trish, just go get a soft pretzel or something!" she finally whispers to her friend. "I'll tell you what you miss."

"Fine," Trish grumbles. "Bossy."

The Latina stands up and walks out of the theater, and Ally finally has quiet to focus on the movie.

After eating half of the bag of her perfectly buttered and salted popcorn, she's feeling parched. She reaches to her right for her soda and she starts when she feels a hand wrap around hers. She goes rigid, and the boy next to her freezes as well. She wants to pull her hand away, but his is covering it.

It takes a full minute of this awkwardness before she feels the boy's breath on her ear.

"You realize this is my drink, right?"

Ally swallows and blushes, turning to look at the senior boy and preparing for him to somehow humiliate her. But there's just a small, playful smirk on his face as he looks at her.

She didn't realize how close he was.

His smirk fades as he looks into her eyes, and she can't believe that this _senior_ is giving her any attention at all. But he's cute; she can tell that even in the darkness of the theater. The darkness which would conceal both of them if they were to…

She didn't realize she was leaning in, but suddenly she's about to kiss him.

He apparently has other ideas, and he lifts the drink – even though she's still holding onto it as well – and starts slurping rather loudly and obnoxiously through the straw, never breaking the intense eye contact with her.

But that smile is playing on his lips again, and she can't help the ungraceful snort as she starts giggling at the blond. She covers her mouth with her free hand after receiving a few hushes from other audience members, but she still can't contain her giggles.

The boy sets the drink down again and grins in victory, releasing her hand.

"Shhh," he whispers, bringing a finger to his lips. "I'm trying to watch the movie."

"You were the one slurping your soda!" Ally whispers back in between her dying giggles.

The boy brings a finger to his lips again and shoots her a wink before turning back to face the movie.

She grins and does the same, feeling heat rush to her cheeks again.

Trish finally comes back with her soft pretzel and settles next to Ally once again.

"So what'd I miss?" she whispers.

"I...don't know," Ally whispers back, the smile still on her face.

"How can you not know?" Trish turns to look at her. "Why're you grinning? Are you _blushing_?"

That last bit must've been loud, because she hears a whisper from behind her. "I do have that effect on people."

She turns and sees the smirking blond, and of course more heat rushes to her cheeks. She quickly faces Trish again.

"You don't know if I'm blushing, it's too dark in here for you to tell."

But now Trish is focused on the nameless senior next to Ally.

"Who are you?"

"Apparently the boy of your cute friend's dreams," he whispers back, nudging Ally.

She widens her eyes at Trish, knowing the boy can't see her. Trish grins.

"Well, Dream Boy," Trish whispers, turning her attention to the blond, "my cute friend must be – "

" _Shhhhhh_!" someone hisses behind them.

Ally swallows and blushes. She's never liked being yelled at. So she turns to face the movie immediately, noticing both Trish and the blond boy doing so after. Trish reaches over and squeezes Ally's hand in excitement at the possibility of a new love interest for her friend, and Ally bites her lip to contain her smile. Meanwhile, the boy next to her slurps his drink again, receiving a few annoyed whispers from his friends.

After another hour of the most annoying mixture of silent flirting from the senior and silent freaking out from Trish, the credits start rolling. At some point within that hour, the boy had jokingly pulled the cheesy 'movie theater' move of pretending to stretch and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, so when the lights turn on Trish finally takes notice and goes into a surprised cough attack.

Ally simply blushes and stands up, leaving the boy's arm to drop into her seat. She grabs her drink (yes, _her_ drink) and her empty bag of popcorn.

"C'mon, Trish," she mutters, too nervous to turn around and look at just how cute the senior boy is.

"Well, aren't you going to say goodbye to your boyfriend?" Trish asks teasingly, nodding at something behind Ally with a smirk on her face.

Ally bites her lip and blushes, turning around.

Of course, he's even better looking than she thought. His hair is blond and messy, his eyes are a gorgeous shade of hazel, he's tall and fit, and that smirk on his face is the perfect combination of teasing and flirty.

"I gotta say, you made the movie even better than it already was." Of course even his _voice_ had to be perfect.

"Please," she says, rolling her eyes and trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks. "You were too busy bothering me to pay attention to the second half."

He leans forward slightly and raises his eyebrows, as if getting ready to tell her an amazing secret. "Exactly."

She blushes even redder, and she really should get out of here before he takes back his 'cute' statement after realizing she is an actual tomato.

"See you around, girlfriend." He shoots her a wink and then turns around to join his friends.

" _Ally_!" Trish squeals as soon as he's out of earshot, grabbing her hands. "What _was_ all that?!"

"W – well, I…I don't know," Ally stutters, in disbelief herself. "I accidentally grabbed his drink, and he grabbed it too, and then we kinda stared at each other, and then he did something funny, and then you came back and…yeah…"

"He was totally flirting with you!" the Latina exclaims, dragging her out of the theater. Then she gasps. "You didn't get his number. Or his name!"

"I'm sure that was just a one-time thing," Ally says. "He probably has a girlfriend. A _senior_ girlfriend."

"I dunno…" Trish says. "He seems nice. Which means he wouldn't flirt with someone he doesn't know if he has a girlfriend."

Ally blushes again. "Don't get my hopes up," she whines. "I hardly said two words to him, I don't want to _like_ him."

"It's a little late for that," Trish giggles. "You're crushing."

"I am _not_ crushing."

"You are _so_ crushing."

"…I might be _kind of_ crushing…"

Trish squeals and hugs Ally, and she reluctantly hugs back. Nothing good can come of this.

* * *

"Has he talked to you yet?" Trish asks, walking up to Ally at her locker in between classes.

"Not since you texted me five minutes ago," Ally says, rolling her eyes. "I haven't even seen him. He has senior classes, remember?"

"Ally, you're making way too big a deal about the difference between seniors and juniors. I have like a million senior friends."

"And I have none," Ally deadpans. "It's just weird to me, okay? And besides, I think he's kinda popular."

"Who cares?" Trish says. "He obviously likes you."

"He doesn't like me."

"He was flirting."

"He probably flirts with every girl he knows. And doesn't know."

"Just be happy for yourself!" Trish explains.

"I'll probably never even see him again!" Ally says. "Stop getting my hopes up!"

"I will _never_ stop getting your hopes up. I'm rooting for you two."

Ally sighs and collects her books, closing her locker. "Well, thanks. But it'll never happen."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Trish says, a smile forming on her face. "Hey, Dream Boy."

"Hey cute girl from the theater's friend," she hears his voice behind her. She turns around to face him, and he grins down at her, leaning against the lockers. "Hey, girlfriend."

She blushes. "Yeah, okay. Hi."

"What, forget about me already?" he teases. "I thought you'd be happier to see me."

"How could I forget you slurping your drink for half the movie?"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration."

Ally shrugs, a small smile on her face.

"Ah, see? There's that smile."

"What smile?" she asks, knitting her eyebrows together.

"The smile from the theater. Every time I did something annoying you smiled like that."

"Oh."

"Anyway," the blond continues, "if I'm your movie theater boyfriend I think I should have your name."

Ally rolls her eyes, her smile growing. "Oh, is that what you are now?"

"Yes, I thought that was already established."

"Well, I'm Ally," she says.

"Ally," he echoes, testing out the name. "I like it."

"What about you?"

"Moon," he says, lifting her hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. "Austin Moon."

"You are quite the flirt, aren't you?" Ally says, gently pulling her hand out of his grip before he can make her blush even more.

"Perceptive," he teases. "So, Miss Ally, why haven't I seen you around before?"

"Different classes, different grades…"

"Yeah, that might explain it. You're a junior?"

Here it comes. His disgust at the age difference and his ultimate rejection of any other interaction with her. "Yeah…" she says.

"That's cool. I'm a senior."

Huh. That was unexpected. And quite anticlimactic.

Ally feels Trish kick the back of her leg, as if to say _I told you so_.

"I figured. A few of your friends from the theater are on the football team."

" _Very_ perceptive," he says, grinning at her.

"Well, of course. We junior girls pay close attention to senior boys."

Austin laughs, and Ally smiles in victory (and at how pretty the sound is).

"I like you," he decides. "We should hang out again sometime. Maybe somewhere we won't get aggressively shushed at for talking."

Ally smiles more and chuckles a bit. "I'd like that."

Austin pulls out his phone and hands it to her, a blank contact page on the screen. She takes it and puts in her number and her name, adding 'girlfriend' in parentheses and a few emojis. When he looks at it again, he smiles.

Then she hands him her phone and he does the same thing she did, adding 'boyfriend' next to his name with the same emojis.

"Matching contacts," he says. "Relationship goals, yeah?"

Ally snorts and tries to cover it by clearing her throat, but Austin's already grinning at her.

"Cute."

She rolls her eyes. "Thanks."

The warning bell rings for class, and Austin's eyes widen.

"I have sixty seconds to sprint to the other side of campus. I should probably go."

"Yeah, you should," Ally says with a giggle.

He smiles at her. "See ya later, Ally."

He shoots her a wink and runs off. Trish squeals and Ally rolls her eyes as they walk to class, knowing she's going to get an earful about this later.

* * *

"Ally, I can't _believe_ you're not freaking out!" Trish squeals, pacing in Ally's room as Ally sits on her bed.

"I'm trying not to because I don't wanna get my hopes up."

"He _admitted_ he was flirting with you! And he gave you his number!"

"Yeah, well…I just don't wanna get hurt."

"He _adores_ you," Trish says, rolling her eyes.

"He does _not_ adore me."

"He thinks you're cute."

"That doesn't mean he adores me."

"Yes it does!"

Ally sighs. "Can we talk about something _other_ than Austin?"

"Fine," Trish relents, sitting down next to Ally. "Are you gonna be lonely over spring break while I'm away touring Florida State?"

"Yes," Ally whiles, leaning her head on Trish's shoulder. "Why'd you have to go tour a college on spring break?"

"It's the only free time I have!"

"I'm gonna be so _bored_."

"I'm sure Austin will keep you company," Trish says. Ally can hear the smile in her voice.

"We agreed we were gonna stop talking about him. But since you mentioned it, he's probably gonna be with that group of seniors and juniors renting the beach house."

"Oh yeah, my friend Emma invited me to go with them, but I already had the college trip planned. Oh well," Trish says with a shrug.

Ally sighs.

"Cheer up," Trish says, nudging Ally. "It's only January."

"Yeah, yeah." Ally lifts her head from Trish's shoulder. "So what do you wanna do tonight?"

Just then, Ally's phone buzzes with a text. She grabs it and looks at it, feeling Trish looking over her shoulder.

"I'm not even surprised that it's him," Trish says.

Ally blushes and opens the text.

 _me and some friends are going bowling tonight…do you and your friend wanna come?_

"He wants to hang out with you!" Trish squeals.

"Do you wanna go?" Ally asks, trying to ignore her.

"I actually just remembered that I have to be home for a family dinner," Trish says in a rush. "I can't. But you can!"

"I don't wanna go without you!" Ally says. "Please?"

"I _really_ can't. But here."

Trish grabs her phone and quickly texts Austin back.

 _Trish can't but I can! what time?_

The Latina grins and hands Ally her phone back and Ally sighs.

"Gee, thanks," she deadpans.

"You're welcome," Trish replies cheerily. "I should go now so you can do your homework before you leave."

Ally sighs. "Okay. See you tomorrow. Have fun at your fake family dinner."

"I will!" Trish giggles. "Call me as soon as you get home."

She leaves before Ally can reply.

* * *

She expected a huge group of intimidating, judgmental, obnoxious seniors. But when she climbs into the back of the minivan that pulls up to her house, she only finds three boys including Austin.

"Hey, girlfriend," the blond says with a grin after she shuts the car door behind her.

"Whoa, _girlfriend_?!" the boy in the driver's seat exclaims, turning around to look at Austin, who's in the back seat next to Ally.

"Ally's my movie theater girlfriend," Austin exclaims. "Remember?"

"Oh yeah. I had to deal with you flirting with her the entire time," the boy in the passenger seat says, rolling his eyes.

"So…you're _not_ his girlfriend?" the driver says, looking at Ally.

She blushes and shakes her head.

"Oh. Darn. Anyway, I'm Dez," the driver says, smiling at her.

"I'm Jace," the other boy says, shooting her a smile as well.

"And I'm Austin," the blond next to her teases.

She smiles, feeling a lot more relaxed than she was when she first got in the car. "I'm Ally," she says.

"Yeah, Austin's told us _all_ about you. Buckle up," Dez says, turning around and pulling out of Ally's driveway.

"Have you?" Ally says, raising her eyebrows at Austin as she puts on her seatbelt.

"Mmhm," Austin replies. "They couldn't wait to meet you."

"And _he_ couldn't wait to see you," Jace adds, turning around to look at her.

She blushes, and Austin and Jace grin at her.

"Austin just can't stop talking about how _cute_ you were at the theater," the brunette continues. "That moment you two touched hands and then looked into each other's eyes…it was like love at first sight." The boy sighs dreamily.

"Dude," Austin says, rolling his eyes and leaning his head back against the seat.

"He's just _stuck_ in that _one_ moment. What did you say, Austin? It changed your life or something, yeah?" Jace continues.

Ally giggles and raises her eyebrows at the blond, who just looks at her with his eyes widened in annoyance with his friend. He shakes his head as if to say _This is why I can't tell him anything_.

"Even on the way here he was going _on_ and _on_ and _on_ about you."

"Okay, stop," Austin says, sounding frustrated now.

This time, Jace just grins and turns back around in his seat.

Austin's silent for the rest of the way to the bowling alley, but fortunately Dez and Jace make conversation with Ally so it isn't too awkward.

When they arrive and start walking through the parking lot to get to the building, Austin holds Ally back behind Dez and Jace.

"I'm sorry for them," he says. "Jace likes to be obnoxious."

Ally giggles. "It's fine," she replies. "Serves you right for trying to make me blush all the time with your flirting."

"So…you're not scared off or anything?"

"Don't worry," she says, smiling at the blond. "It'll take a lot more than you telling your friends that we had a moment at a movie theater to scare me off."

Austin sighs in relief and smiles too, draping an arm over her shoulders. "In that case, girlfriend, I'm going to _cream_ you at this bowling game."

"In your dreams, Moon."

* * *

"Told you so," she says smugly as they leave the bowling alley.

"You cheated," Austin says decidedly. "I _know_ you cheated."

"Dude, she wiped the floor with all of us. Get over it," Dez says, rolling his eyes. "But especially you."

Austin shoves his hands in his pockets.

"Don't worry, Austin," Ally says cheerily. "You were probably just distracted because of those wings you were obsessed with."

"Yeah, _that's_ what distracted him," Jace teases.

" _Jace_."

"She set you up for that one!" Jace exclaims defensively. "Blame her!"

Austin rolls his eyes and pulls one hand out of his pocket to casually drape his arm over Ally's shoulders.

"You're practically _begging_ me to make fun of you," Jace says.

Austin opens his mouth to say something back, but Dez intervenes.

"Let's go get fro-yo!" he suggests, pointing to the frozen yogurt place across the parking lot. "I'll pay."

"That's a great idea," Ally agrees.

The four of them walk to the small establishment, Austin and Ally hanging behind Dez and Jace.

"Sorry for him. Again."

"Austin, he's just teasing. It's fine, really."

Austin sighs, a small smile on his face.

They all get their yogurt and toppings, and after Dez pays they sit down at a small table.

"So Ally, how _did_ you get so good at bowling?" Jace asks.

Ally grins and takes a bite of her yogurt. "That's a secret."

"Oh, come on," the brunette whines.

"A bowling pro never reveals how she got her skills," Ally says.

"You have _mad_ skills," Dez tells her.

She smiles at him and takes another bite of her yogurt.

"What do you think, Austin?" she asks, looking at the blond. "How mad are my skills?"

All Austin does is give her a small smile. "You've got a little…" He gestures to her nose.

She quickly grabs a napkin and wipes her nose, finding that she accidentally got frozen yogurt on it.

"Well, that's embarrassing," she deadpans.

"I thought it was cute," Austin says.

"Thanks," Ally says, rolling her eyes.

They finish their yogurt and pile into Dez's minivan. He drops Jace off at home first, and then he drives to Ally's house.

"Thanks for being so awful at bowling," she says with a grin. "Tonight was fun."

"You're cool," Dez tells her. "Hopefully we hang out more."

Ally nods in agreement. "Bye, Dez. Bye, Austin."

She starts getting out of the car, but Austin grabs her arm gently to stop her.

"Next time, we're hanging out just you and me," he says quietly so Dez doesn't hear.

Ally grins at him and nods, and he shoots her a smile and his infamous wink, letting go of her arm.

"Bye, Ally," Dez calls as she gets out.

She walks up to the door and waves at them before going inside.

After dancing around the living room for a few minutes to let out all of her excitement, she calls Trish.

"Tell me _everything_."

So that's what Ally does. She goes over every last detail about the night, from Jace's teasing to Austin's shameless flirting during the bowling game, to the frozen yogurt place, and finally to Austin's comment about hanging out alone next time.

"Ally, he likes you!" Trish squeals.

Ally blushes and tries to hide her smile, even though Trish can't see it. "Maybe…maybe he does," she says.

"This is so exciting! If he asks you out officially, are you gonna say yes?"

"Well, of course I am!" Ally replies.

"I can't wait for you two to date!"

" _If_ we date!"

"He practically asked you out, from the way you made it sound!"

Ally blushes harder. "We'll talk about this tomorrow. I'm tired."

"Aw," Trish says. "Long day with your new senior best friends?"

"Yep. Night, Trish."

"Night, Ally."

Ally hangs up and walks upstairs to get ready for bed. Then she collapses on her pillow and falls asleep.

* * *

"How are you so _good_ at this?" Austin asks her as he leans forward with his hands on his knees.

Ally grins as she picks up the soccer ball they were playing with in Austin's front yard.

"I played soccer for eight years."

"Bowling _and_ soccer?" He looks up at her.

She shrugs innocently.

"You are really something," he says.

"Rematch?" she asks, setting the ball down.

"You're on," Austin replies, narrowing his eyes and pulling his shirt over his head. "Now it's serious."

Ally gets distracted for a second by his bare stomach and chest. Of course literally _everything_ about him is perfect.

"Pulling out the big guns," he says with a smirk, flexing his muscles. She tries her best not to let her silent swooning show on her face.

"Please, Austin. If you think taking your shirt off is gonna distract me so much that I'll lose, you're dead wrong."

She kicks the ball around him and runs to the other side of the yard. He leaps in front of her to stop her from scoring, but she's already kicked the ball.

Austin narrows his eyes at her and starts dribbling the ball to her side. He blocks her attempts to steal it from her, and he _totally_ cheats by squeezing her side and tickling her so she can't stop him from scoring a goal.

"Hey, that doesn't count!" she protests.

"You didn't lay down any ground rules," he says with a shrug.

Even with his unfair advantages, Ally still manages to get ahead. But then he ties it up, and Ally gets the ball again to start going for the winning goal.

She sprints in front of Austin with the ball, and she's about to kick it into the plastic goal when she feels his arms around her waist as he pulls her back and away from the ball.

"Austin!" she laughs, grabbing his arms to try to pull them off her.

He laughs in her ear, still holding onto her as he tries to step around her and get the ball back. But she trips him, and he stumbles and falls on top of her. She grunts under his weight.

"Sorry," he says, standing up and dusting off his jeans. "That was your fault. I call a foul."

"No rules!" she exclaims. "I win."

"It's a tie."

"Fine," she decides.

Austin holds out a hand and she takes it, standing up.

"You okay?" he asks. "I'm like twice your size."

"Yeah," she says. "Are _you_ okay? Losing twice in a row must hurt your ego."

Austin smiles and rolls his eyes, still holding onto her hand and grabbing her free one in his. She looks down at their hands and then up at him. He's still smiling down at her, as if all of this is casual and normal.

"Do you still think about it too?" he asks her.

"Think about what?"

"That moment we met."

"Yeah. It wasn't even that big a deal."

"And yet."

He pulls her closer to him, that small smile on his face growing a little wider.

She feels her own smile growing as she steps even closer. She knows that they both know where this is going, and almost as if he's reading her mind, Austin leans down and presses his lips to hers, pulling her arms around his waist and letting go of her hands to wrap his arms around her shoulders.

She grins and closes her eyes, standing on her tiptoes to reach him better. His lips curve upwards even more and he sways slowly. She tightens her grip around his waist to balance as she shifts her weight from foot to foot with him.

The kiss is soft and sweet, and when they finally pull away she nuzzles her nose against his affectionately. He chuckles quietly and presses another light kiss to her lips, and then one to her forehead.

* * *

"But he didn't even ask me out," Ally finishes lamely after telling Trish about her afternoon with Austin.

Trish slams her locker shut in frustration. "Why not?!"

"I don't know!" Ally exclaims, frustrated too. "He _kissed_ me."

"I know!"

"It's so annoying. Now I know he likes me, and he knows I like him. Why didn't he just ask?!"

"Boys are stupid," Trish decides.

Just then, Ally's friend Elliot walks up.

"Hey," he says.

"Aren't boys stupid?" Trish asks him.

"Sometimes," Elliot says. He looks at Ally, and his cheeks tint pink. "Hey, Ally."

She chuckles. "Hi, Elliot."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"Well…I don't have some big, special ask or anything, but…will you go to prom with me?"

Ally's eyes widen and she looks at Trish for support. The Latina nods at her.

She smiles shyly at Elliot and nods. "I'd love to."

Elliot grins in excitement. "Really?!"

Ally giggles and nods. "Really."

"Perfect!" the boy exclaims. "This is…" He trails off and laughs. "This is great!"

"Don't hurt yourself, Elliot," Trish says, raising her eyebrows.

Elliot smiles at her. "You're just jealous that you don't have a prom date."

"Sure, that's it," Trish replies.

Elliot rolls his eyes and gives Ally a shy wave before walking off.

"Why did I just say yes?" Ally asks Trish as soon as he leaves. "Why did you tell me to say yes?"

"Why not?" Trish answers with a shrug. "You have a prom date!"

"But I like Austin."

"He wouldn't have wanted to go to junior prom."

"He might have."

"Well…now you have a for-sure date! And I'm sure Austin won't mind."

* * *

"And you said _yes_?!"

Ally rolls her eyes and continues to watch the blond pace in front of her while she sits on her bed. How many times does she have to explain this?

"That's what I just said," she tells the blond.

He stops his pacing and looks at her. " _Why_?! I thought we were a thing!"

"What gave you _that_ idea?" she asks. "You never said anything. You never asked me out."

"We kissed!"

"That doesn't automatically make us a couple."

"Well…it's not like _you_ made anything official!"

"I know I didn't. I said yes to Elliot because there's nothing official."

"But _Allllllyyyy_ ," Austin whines. "We're a _thing_!"

"'Things' are stupid," Ally says. "If you're the kind of guy who doesn't actually make any real moves and is perfectly content without making anything official then maybe it's a good thing that I'm going to prom with Elliot."

Austin rolls his eyes. "I'm _not_ that kind of guy. But I just kinda assumed that you liked me."

"I do like you."

"Then why'd you say yes to Elliot?!"

"Because, Austin, as of right now I'm single. And I knew you probably wouldn't want to go to a junior prom, so of course I said yes to someone else asking to be my date."

"I would've said yes if you had asked me."

Ally sighs. "Don't be mad. I don't want to fight with you about this."

"It's kinda hard not to."

"I'm not going to apologize for saying yes to a date with a guy because I _am_ single. But I hope that you can get over it and we can put this behind us."

Austin exhales and sits next to her. "This sucks."

"You never actually told me if you like me or not."

Austin laughs, a hint of bitterness in the normally sweet sound. "I figured my bluntness with how insanely jealous I am would've made it painstakingly obvious."

"Maybe you're just possessive with the girls you flirt with."

Austin rolls his eyes. "You're impossible. Of course I like you. I've been calling you my girlfriend since we met!"

"As a joke."

" _I like you_ ," he tells her pointedly, turning to look at her.

"Then _do_ something about it."

"Well, I can't now!" He crosses his arms and his expression twists into that of a pouty five-year-old. "You're going to prom with what's-his-face."

"So?"

" _So_ , that makes you off-limits until after prom."

"That's stupid."

"That's life."

"Well, if you really like me then you can wait a month."

"Yeah, until you go to prom with him and possibly fall for him and then I'll just be your movie theater boyfriend left in the dust."

Ally smiles a bit and nudges him gently with her shoulder. "At least we'll always have that."

"Yeah," Austin mutters. "Maybe that's _all_ we'll ever have."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that maybe the only thing that we'll ever have between us is accidentally touching hands at the movies because you thought my drink was yours and I guess we both wanted soda at the same time and then we just kinda stared at each other which I thought was weird so I – "

She smiles at his rambling and covers his mouth with her hand. "I know what happened," she reminds him gently. "I was there."

"I ramble when I'm upset," he tells her, his voice muffled by her hand.

"You're upset?" she asks, dropping her hand.

"What, were you not here for the past twenty minutes?"

Ally exhales. "I just don't understand _why_ you're so upset. Yes, you like me. Yes, I like you. But we aren't a couple, and yet you're acting like I'm cheating on you."

"How many times do I have to explain the concept of being a _thing_?"

"Austin, there's no such thing as a _thing_. There's just a relationship or no relationship."

"There are gray areas."

"What do you want me to do, Austin?"

"Well, I _want_ you to not go to prom with him…" the blond mutters.

"Okay, well, that's not happening."

"Why not? You said you liked me!"

"I'm not cancelling on Elliot just because _you're_ jealous and regretting that you were too late."

"So what, do I just not get to go to prom with the girl I _actually_ like?"

"That happens to people all the time, Austin."

The blond exhales and pulls his knees to his chest, balancing his heels on the edge of her bed and wrapping his arms around his legs. He rests his chin on top of his knees and glares at the wall on the other side of the room.

"But you realize I'm going to _junior_ prom with Elliot, right? And you're a _senior_. And _junior_ prom and _senior_ prom are on two different weekends," she tells him.

She watches as he sits in silence, mulling her words over in his head. Then his glare fades and he turns his head to look at her.

She shoots him a small smile, and he keeps his gaze locked on hers as he pulls out his phone, only breaking their eye contact when he holds it between them.

"Six weeks," he says. Then he puts his phone away and looks at her again. "I have to go."

"Go where?" she asks as he stands up from the bed.

"Ideas to formulate, plans to make, props to buy, friends to call, and a cute girl from a movie theater to sweep off her feet," he says, lifting her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

She grins at him, and he shoots her a smile and a wink before walking out of her room.

* * *

"I didn't know you could cook," Ally says, looking up at Austin from her position laying down on their picnic blanket with her head in his lap.

"That's because I can't," he replies. "Those sandwiches were from Subway."

She grins. "I love Subway."

"Good, or that would've turned out pretty bad."

"You know," she says as Austin starts absentmindedly combing his fingers through a few locks of her hair, "this is kinda…date-y."

"I simply invited you over for a picnic. You're the one who's using me as a pillow, girlfriend."

"Touché."

"So…how are you and Elliot?"

"We're good," Ally says with a smile.

Austin looks down at her. "Yes, but what does that _mean_?"

"We're friends," Ally tells him. "I told him the situation and he's fine."

"Wait, really?"

"Mmhm."

Austin grins. "So this is _allowed_ to be date-y."

"Yes," Ally laughs, sitting up.

"That's a relief," the blond replies. "It was hard pretending like it wasn't date-y."

"I bet," Ally giggles. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I got my prom dress."

"Oooh, can I see it?" Austin asks.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because it's bad luck to see the girl in her dress before prom."

"Ally, that's weddings. And I haven't even asked you yet."

"Well, still."

Austin rolls his eyes. "Fine."

* * *

Elliot is an awkward person. She's known that for a while, especially because of how strange he acts around her. He's even more awkward than _her_.

And that's saying something, considering she's a pretty awkward person herself.

But being here at prom with him has introduced her to a whole new level of awkwardness. His hands are sweaty, his voice is broken and stutter-y, and he looks as though he wants to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment. She tries cutting him some slack though; she knows how much he likes her and her bringing up that she actually likes Austin and not him must really be throwing him off, especially with how excited he was that she said yes.

That doesn't mean she has to _enjoy_ her slick palms after dancing with him, though.

She tries to discreetly wipe her hands on her dress as she follows Elliot to their table, where Trish and her date, Jace, are waiting.

Ally gives Trish a look begging for help, but Trish just shoots her a sympathetic smile and a shrug before focusing her attention on Jace again. Elliot is busy drowning himself in punch, so Ally decides to check her phone for any way to escape this awkward situation.

Fortunately, she's received about a million texts from her not-boyfriend.

 _How's it going?_

 _Are you bored?_

 _How does he look?_

 _Has he tried anything?_

 _Are you even having fun?_

 _Hello?_

 _Wow, okay._

 _Just kidding lol._

 _No I'm not. Please talk to me._

 _Alllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…._

 _I'm home alone ;)_

 _You know about us senior boys… ;))_

 _Ally c'mon these are the jokes…_

 _PLEASE I'M SO BORED!_

Ally chuckles and shakes her head, walking off to the corner of the room to call him.

"You're alive!" he exclaims as soon as he answers the phone.

"Yes," she laughs, holding a finger over her other ear to drown out the music playing around her.

"I was so lonely!"

"I could tell. What're you up to?"

"I should be asking you that question," he replies. "Since you're the one at prom. How's _the boy_?"

" _Elliot_ is fine," she says with a giggle. "A little nervous and awkward, but I'm the same way around people I like."

"Except me."

"Except you," she agrees.

"Will prom be over soon?"

"Yeah, but we might be going out after."

"Not to either of your houses, I hope," Austin teases, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Maybe," she replies. "You know what people do on prom night."

"That's only if they're actually together!"

"Oh, did I not tell you? Elliot asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"Ally, that isn't even funny."

"I'm serious!" she laughs.

"No you're not," Austin says, letting out a small laugh himself. "Besides, you're too head-over-heels for me to say yes to being his girlfriend, anyway."

"I am _not_ head-over-heels."

"You are too."

"Am not."

"Fight me."

"I would, but I'm at prom and you're all alone at home."

"That was cold, Dawson."

"Well, it's a good thing you're hot."

"I'm blushing."

"I'm glad I made you feel better."

"You always do."

Ally smiles, and there's a beat of silence before the blond speaks again.

"So, if you _don't_ end up going out after prom, do you wanna hang out?" he asks.

"Austin, it'll be like midnight."

"What's your point?"

"That's late."

"That's the night just getting started!"

Ally laughs. "That's time to go to sleep!"

"You're lame." She can imagine him pouting.

"We'll hang out tomorrow. I promise."

"That's too late."

"You're so _needy_."

"I take pride in that."

Ally laughs again, her night already a million times better just because of a few minutes of talking to him.

* * *

So apparently Austin decided that hanging out with her wasn't _that_ important, because she woke up to a text from him saying that he's going to be super busy today but maybe she can come over later this evening.

And since she was expecting to spend the day with him, she has no other plans for today. Trish is busy, and everyone else she tries to hang out with is too tired from prom last night.

Which is how she finds herself sitting in bed doing homework all day, stopping every five minutes to check her phone for any more messages from Austin. But she doesn't find any.

She ends up finishing all her homework, and she even manages to get ahead in some of her classes, which is good of course, but she'd much rather be hanging out with Austin.

It's almost sunset when her phone rings, and she nearly falls off her bed trying to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ally!" she hears Trish's cheery voice over the line. "Austin's house. Get dressed and be there!"

And then she hangs up. Ally thinks about why she might be wanted at Austin's if he's busy and Trish is supposed to be too, but then she decides that she's desperate to beat her boredom. She gets out of bed and freshens herself up, puts on a sundress, and grabs her keys.

When she parks in front of Austin's house, she notices that his front yard looks different. There's a huge frame made of cardboard set up with a white sheet hung between two trees behind it and a single chair in front of it. Ally knits her eyebrows and gets out of the car.

"Trish?" she calls.

"Ah, Miss Dawson?" she hears from behind her. She turns around and sees Jace grinning down at her.

"Jace? What's going on?"

"I believe you have a reservation," he continues as if he doesn't even hear her.

"For what?"

"Come with me," the brunette tells her.

She follows him to the chair in the yard and sits down, more confused than ever.

Suddenly Dez appears in front of her holding a bag of popcorn and a soda. He shoves them in her hands and she frowns.

"Dez? What're these for – "

"Your complimentary movie theater snacks," the redhead tells her.

"Movie theater – what's going on?"

"Enjoy the show!" Dez exclaims with a grin. Then he and Jace dart behind the sheet, where she can make out a couple more shadows if she focuses.

"Guys, please tell me what you're doing!" she calls to them, starting to get up.

But then she hears music coming from behind the sheet and she sighs, sitting down again.

Dez walks out in front of the sheet, staying behind the frame. He's wearing a blond wig and what seems to be Austin's clothes. Then Trish walks out to stand next to him in a wig that matches Ally's hair color and style, along with a sundress that looks like something Ally would wear.

"Once upon a time," she hears Austin saying in a deep, dramatic voice, "there were two teenagers in a movie theater. One was a dashing, charming, hot, smart, amazing, dreamy – _ow_! _Jace_!"

She hears someone – most likely Jace – snickering behind the sheet. Austin clears his throat and continues. "One was a senior boy, and the other was a beautiful, sweet, smart junior girl. The girl walked into the theater late, and the only available seat was next to the aforementioned boy."

While Austin is speaking, Jace runs in front of the sheet and sets down two chairs next to each other, shooting Ally a grin before running back behind the sheet. Dez sits in one, and Trish squints and pretends to look for a seat before letting out an exaggerated sigh and plopping down next to Dez.

"The pair didn't know each other, and they watched their movie in silence, munching on their delicious, but very overpriced, movie theater snacks." Jace runs out and hands Trish and Dez popcorn and sodas, and they each balance their beverages on the arms of their chairs while holding their popcorn in their laps. "Good thing the snacks here are complimentary, am I right?" Austin continues.

Ally chuckles as she imagines him with a cheeky grin. She takes a bite of her own popcorn and starts to relax.

"Anyway, the girl, whose name was Ally, had an insane skill of eating popcorn extremely fast. So, by the time the movie was halfway over, she had finished her popcorn and was feeling quite parched."

Trish tosses the popcorn she hasn't eaten behind her and displays the empty bag to Ally with a frown on her face before setting it on the ground next to her.

"Austin, the boy, wanted some of his soda, too. Not because he was thirsty; he just has an unhealthy addiction to Coca-Cola. Ally, however, forgot which cup holder her soda was in, so she ended up reaching for Austin's soda at the same time he did. Thus, their hands touched and sparks flew."

Trish and Dez act out the scene as he speaks, and after he's finished Ally hears cheesy firework sound effects coming from behind the sheet. She giggles.

"After a few awkward moments of staring at each other, Austin broke the tension by slurping the drink very loudly."

Dez does as Austin narrates, and Ally laughs at the memory.

"For the rest of the movie, the pair silently flirted, and by the time the credits rolled, Austin had charmed his way into Ally's heart and Ally had smiled her way into his." Austin's voice sounds softer now, a new fondness in his tone. Trish and Dez continue acting out the scene.

"They finally introduced themselves and went on their way, but neither of them could forget that one moment that changed their lives."

Trish and Dez smile at each other and wave before walking back behind the curtain. Jace sprints out and collects all the props, bringing them behind the sheet as well.

Then Austin pokes his head around the sheet and grins at Ally. "They still can't forget about it. Well, at least he can't."

Ally laughs. "She can't either," she admits.

"That's a relief," the blond says. Then he clears his throat and walks out from behind the curtain, wearing a nice button-up and dark jeans and carrying a bouquet of flowers. He stands in front of Ally, staying behind the cardboard frame, and smiles at her (despite the slightly frustrated look in his eyes as Trish whisper-yells at Dez and Jace backstage to shut their traps before she punches them both).

"Of course, Austin and Ally became the best of friends – if you can call them _just friends_. But the point is, with each moment Austin spent with her he found something new to adore. And so he spent five weeks wracking his brain for the perfect way to ask Ally to prom."

Austin grins as Trish, Dez, and Jace run out and stand behind him. They hold up five cardboard rectangles (Trish and Dez each hold two) spelling out 'PROM?' in carefully painted black ink. Dez looks up and realizes he's holding the question mark upside down, so he quickly fixes it while Ally processes everything that just happened.

"So…will you go to prom with me?" Austin asks her hopefully.

Ally grins and stands up, walking over to stand in front of him, the frame still between them. "I was beginning to worry you weren't gonna ask me."

Austin laughs and sighs in relief. "I'll take that as a yes?"

"Take it as an 'Of course, you sweet, romantic idiot.'"

The blond grins and hands her the flowers, and she hugs him tightly.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Trish, Dez, and Jace chant.

Austin laughs and pulls away from her, only to grab her face and pull her back in for a kiss. She smiles and tightens her grip around him, and she feels someone gently take the flowers out of her hand so the stems stop digging into Austin's back.

Then she hears a few phone cameras clicking, and Austin pulls away to grin at her. "Was it worth the wait?" he asks.

She nods. "Barely," she teases.

"That was the best promposal _ever_ ," Austin says defensively.

"Yeah," she sighs with a smile on her face, "it was."

* * *

 **WE FINALLY FINISHED HOLY CRAP THIS IS ALMOST 8,OOO WORDS YIKES anyway me and lexy did it again and we hope you like it! :D**


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